Building the WFS Part 8

The Final Stage 

(Originally published on the Micro Model Railroad Cartel Blog) 

Track ballast is in place and final scenery work begins.

A few more finishing touches are needed on the warehouse structure.  I did not copy the prototype structure exactly and used plastic detail parts to hide seams and flaws in the cardstock/foam core building flat.  

Disaster... 

I didn't realize I had placed the building flat directly under a seam on my folding table. Isopropyl alcohol and scenic cement leaked through the seam and dropped down on the building flat. My carelessness ended up damaging the photo front on the building flat. I also discovered my ink jet printer was low on ink and the replacement brick front didn't match the undamaged portion of the brick on the building flat. Ugh! 

Disaster fixed... 

I went ahead and pulled off all of the brick facing on the building flat and replaced the whole front. This ended up being an easy fix, and I was even able to adjust the seams and get rid of the vent pipe that was used on the previous version of the building flat. I like this version better than the previous one, so it turned out to be a blessing in disguise! 

The connecting track section pieces were ballasted using a piece of .010 styrene glued to the bottom of the ties/sleepers and ballast applied to the topside of the track section. This technique worked well and I am happy with the results. 

IMPORTANT OBSERVATION:

Despite all of the isopropyl alcohol and scenery cement poured onto the foam core baseboard, warping has been slight.  This warping has not created any issues with connections or any vertical deflections to the track. Overall it has been a pleasant experience.  Proper bracing of the baseboard is key to minimize warping of the baseboard. 

Tom